Drugmakers will conduct lung-cancer trials under single protocol

A new project aims to create a "master protocol" that will involve multiple pharmaceutical companies using one experimental plan to test multiple lung-cancer treatments in hundreds of clinics throughout the US, speeding up the drug-approval process. The plan will match drugmakers with patients whose tumors are most genetically relevant to the tested treatments. "The drive is to make the whole process of personalized medicine more efficient," said Eric Rubin, vice president of oncology clinical research at Merck. If the project succeeds, it may be applied to additional cancers.